Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of wireless communication; and more particularly, to switch modules and tuning circuits, and methods of dynamically adjusting RF communication system performance.
Description of the Related Art
As the need for higher data rates increases, communication systems are being designed to cover wider instantaneous frequency bandwidths. Also, with the introduction of 4G protocols such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) additional frequency bands are being used for cellular communication systems. In mobile communication systems, backward compatibility is required for cell phones being designed for 4G LTE applications such that the cell phone must be capable of operating at the 2G and 3G cellular bands as well as the 4G frequency bands. In addition, LTE as a protocol is configured to accommodate carrier aggregation, where multiple channels can be transmitted or received on simultaneously to increase instantaneous bandwidth. This aggregation of channels can cover up to five channels spread across multiple frequency bands. All of these trends point toward a growing need for more flexibility in the RF front-end of mobile communication systems to address the combining of multiple frequency bands and modes.
As more frequency bands are integrated into communication devices and are connected to more antennas that are being tasked to cover wider frequency ranges, implementing tunable RF front-ends and/or tunable antennas will bring additional complexity to the communication system design. The current invention addresses this problem of increased complexity and provides a unique set of capabilities to improve system performance along with simplifying the integration process.